Expedition 49 Departs Station, Begins Ride Home

The Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft departs the International Space Station on time carrying three Expedition 49 crew members back to Earth. Credit: NASA TV

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins of NASA, Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency undocked from the International Space Station at 8:35 p.m. EDT to begin their journey home.

Ivanishin, the Soyuz commander, is at the controls of the MS-01 spacecraft. The trio’s spacecraft completed the first flight to station for the upgraded Soyuz MS-01 when it launched in July.

The crew is scheduled to land at 11:59 p.m. southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

As the Soyuz MS-01 undocked, Expedition 50 officially began on the station under the command of NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough. He and Flight Engineers Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos, will operate the station for three weeks until the arrival of three new crew members next month.

NASA TV will air live coverage of the Soyuz MS-01 deorbit burn and landing beginning at 10:45 p.m. Watch live online on NASA’s website.